streaming

‘What is the deal with streaming? Is it Internet? It’s definitely not TV.’ Whatever the Jerry Seinfeld in my head who just set that joke up thinks it might be, all episodes of Seinfeld will be made available for streaming soon. Sony has licensed Seinfeld exclusively to Hulu for on-demand watching, which will debut on the service in June. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a previous rumor put the per-episode licensing fee north of $500,000 per episode.

Netflix is updating everyone's favorite 90's sci-fi drama, The X-Files, by streaming it in HD as of today. Now, you can see Scully and Mulder in remastered footage that adds more color and details to every scene. The original airings look downright blurry compared to what goes on the air today. Perhaps, Netflix is realizing that there is a renewed interest in the 90's paranormal drama. The streaming company wouldn't be the first to catch on, considering that FOX is giving the people what they want by bringing back Scully and Mulder for a six-episode renewal.

DataMan isn’t new; it was launched in 2013. At the time, the app was a clever way to watch your data usage, but there were also a lot of people on legacy unlimited plans, or not using much data. With smartphone media consumption at a high point, and carriers edging us away from those precious unlimited data plans, DataMan is still as relevant as it ever was. In fact, you might need DataMan more now than you did when it was launched.

Tidal, Jay Z’s streaming music company that promises something different while copying Spotify’s layout, is without a CEO. In a letter to investors, Tidal mentioned now-former CEO Andy Chen had left, replaced by his predecessor Peter Tonstad. Citing Tonstad’s “clear vision” for what Tidal is trying to sell do, the company also says he’s “streamlining resources”. That dovetails with another report that up to 25 employees are now gone from Tidal, including Chen. Apparently, Jay Z is also calling everyone to let them know.

When Meerkat was soft-launched earlier this year, it caught the Twittersphere’s attention in a big way. Then Twitter cut Meerkat off from its social graph for a hot minute, which came just ahead of Periscope landing on the scene. With Twitter taking the live-streaming reigns, many figured Meerkat was going to be a ‘fun fact’ in the history of streaming apps. Instead, Meerkat is branching out, and has announced a public beta for Android, which is wide open for anyone who is interested in trying Meerkat out.

The last year or so has been an exciting one for Apple, with significant product refreshes made across the board. We’ve also seen two new products introduced with Apple Watch and MacBook. Some of the whispers circulating after Apple’s second Watch event suggested they’d exhausted themselves, and there would be little left for WWDC. Though a lot has come to pass lately, maybe Apple got some of their light work off the desks around campus, and are about to make even bigger things happen. Curious what may be in store? Read on.

LG is introducing seven new members to its Music Flow family of speakers. What makes these seven noteworthy, aside from being new, is that they are the first of their kin to support the Google Cast streaming technology. This means that users will be able to "cast" their music easily and effortlessly, not just from their Android smartphones and tablets, but also from iOS and Chrome OS devices. With the new Music Flow line, audiophiles will be able to enjoy the benefits of quality wireless audio, on top of LG's own special features.

Tidal might be meant for artists, but not everyone likes what’s going on. With Tidal, exclusivity is traded for equity. If an artist promises to bring something unique to Tidal, they’ll get a 3% stake. It doesn’t scale, though — there are only so many 3% promissory notes one can give away. Perhaps that’s what’s leading to today’s fun news that at least one band, Mumford & Sons, isn’t buying what Jay-Z and friends are selling. In fact, they’re not interested in Tidal one bit.

Sony's line of 4K Ultra HDTV's are designed to provide incredible resolution, but 4K video offerings are still slim pickings. To counter the lack of 4K content available, Sony isn't just adding to its library of content on its 4K Video Unlimited service for its Ultra HDTV's. Sony is charging ahead and making its own 4K video content with the new TV series, "Powers". Sony also just added Christopher Nolan's Interstellar to its UltraFlix 4K video library.

If you're any sort of a mobile gamer, you might have started jumping up and down before, or even after, reading that headline, but do try to calm down a bit for the details. Yes, it is true that, at least for Japanese smarpthone owners, the most recent, non-MMORPG, Final Fantasy game is indeed playable on their device, but that's not because the game has miraculously been ported to iOS or Android. This is all happening through the magic of game streaming and, is, therefore, quite limited in reach.